續高僧傳 9.20

9.20

Śramaṇa Fa'an's secular surname was Tian. He was a native of Zhijiang. His spiritual radiance was outstanding, and he was praised even as a youth. At the age of eighteen, he travelled to study in Jinling. He first listened to the Tattvasiddhi (Chengshi), and later studied Madhyamaka (Zhongguan) under Master Lang of Xinghuang Monastery. For more than ten years, he was almost continually free of mundane concerns, and his wisdom was exceptionally prominent. Among the three thousand fellow students, he alone bore the renown of the 'Three Perfections': first, he was eight chi tall and his bearing was exceptionally dignified; second, his doctrinal understanding was exhaustive and profound; third, he was vigorous and purified himself. When he listened to lectures on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, he would often raise novel propositions and have the assembly challenge them; though the people were a vast multitude, none could bend him. Because of this, his fame was heard throughout Chu and Yue. At one time, Master Lang, knowing his brilliance, instructed him to debate doctrinal points. Responding to the summons, his arguments and counterarguments answered questions like an echo. After back-and-forth debate had gone on for a long time, he stopped. Lang said, 'Are your arguments exhausted?' He answered, 'Arguments are like the sands of the Ganges; how could they ever be exhausted?' Among the students of that time, many were named An, so they designated him 'Sha'an' (Sand-An). In the Three Treatises and the Four Sūtras, he authored the Guangchuzhang (Expanded Initial Chapter) and the Lujiaozhang (Deer Horn Chapter), and their principles were broad and profound, circulating throughout the Jiang and Han regions. When he was past forty, he turned his sentiments toward dhyāna and spoke no further on doctrines. He occasionally went to Dhyāna Master Cheng's place to discuss the path of meditation and polish the mind-nature, which often lasted from morning till evening. Yet he would not eat the saṅgha's food, nor drink turbid porridge. At the age of sixty-five, he passed away at Dengjie Monastery. The monastery was on an islet in the river, facing Sand Islet to the west, which was the place where Liu Qiu had annotated the Lotus Sūtra; today the remaining foundation of his sutra terrace still exists.